Misunderstandings Continued - Part 3
by Aislin
Summary: The second last part...Isabel discovers why Max collapsed, Tess gets involved...Max wakes up, sees Liz...


Misunderstandings Part 3  
  
Liz looked straight into Max's eyes. Damn. Shouldn't have done that, she thought. With a single glance into his eyes, Liz saw exactly how much pain she was causing him. Right then and there she wanted to be able to hold him in her arms, cry with him, tell him that she loved him, everything was going to be okay. Yet that was something that she just couldn't really do. Every cell in her body ached to touch Max, hold him...kiss him...she wanted to touch him so badly, but she couldn't. The world was on her shoulders. But for a fleeting second she didn't care. She felt like being selfish for once, felt like holding him...felt like kissing him, running her fingers through his hair, feeling his hands running up and down her back as she kissed him. She longed to feel the way she used to with him, when they were able to be together, not worrying about anything like the end of the world.  
  
"It can be like that again, Liz," Max said softly, a pleading look on his face.   
  
"What?"  
  
"We can be together again, like you were thinking. We know what the future is, we can change it. History won't repeat itself, Liz. Not if we don't let it."  
  
Liz suddenly felt angry. Why couldn't Max understand? "We can't change it. There is no we, Max. Why can't you see that?"   
  
"Liz, I--" Max was unable to finish his sentence. Tears streamed down his face. "Liz, I--" he tried again, but to no avail. He gasped for breath, but collapsed onto Liz's bed, unconscious.  
  
"Oh my god, Max!" Liz cried. No, this couldn't be happening...this couldn't be happening at all. She didn't understand what was going on now. Think, Liz, think! she commanded herself. She panicked. What could she do? Max was unconscious lying on her bed, and after all that had been said between them, she wasn't sure if she was what had caused him to collapse. She grabbed the phone on her desk and punched in the first seven familiar numbers that came to mind.   
  
"Hello?" said a female voice. It wasn't Isabel. Damn. Liz had dialed Tess.   
  
"Tess, hi, it's Liz...I need your help," she said hurriedly.   
  
"Why?" Tess asked curiously. She glanced at her watch. It was 3:17.   
  
"I can't explain, but it has to do with Max."  
  
"What did you do to him?!"  
  
"Nothing! At least, I think nothing...whatever happened to him, he's lying unconscious on my bed, and I don't know what to do!"  
  
"On your bed?"  
  
"Tess, who cares! He's unconscious, he was having trouble breathing before he collapsed, just get over here now!" Liz said hurriedly, slamming down the phone. She rushed back to Max's side, where he was breathing heavily. Still unconscious, sweat glistened on his forehead, and he was mumbling something incoherently. Liz knelt down next to him, her ear close to his lips, straining to hear what he was mumbling. Still, all Liz could hear was mumbling. "Max...Max, speak up!" Liz pleaded.   
  
Max's mumbling became audible. "Please say honestly you won't give up on me...I shall believe...I shall believe..."  
  
Liz burst into tears. That song, I Shall Believe by Sheryl Crow, would have been their wedding song. She must've been thinking about what Max's future counterpart had told her about their happiness, and Max picked up on it...or maybe he just liked that song...or maybe--Stop with the maybe's, Liz. Liz climbed onto the bed and lay next to Max. She hummed along with his mumbled song, tears rolling down her face. She wiped her tears away and grasped his hand. He squuezed hers back. At least he was registering some sense of aliveness.   
  
"Liz? Hello?" Tess called up the stairs. She was actually being polite, and decided to not barge in on Liz. "You up there?"  
  
Liz breathed. "Up here, Tess," she called out. Seconds later Tess burst into the door. Within a split second she had spotted Max on the bed.  
  
"Oh--Oh my God..." she said rather hushed.   
  
"What? Tess, I don't like you talking like that...what's wrong?"  
  
"I don't know, that's the problem! I've never seen this happen before...it's something entirely new..." Tess began to examine Max.  
  
Liz was dying to watch, make sure that Tess didn't try to make a mo--Stupid me...she's not gonna try anything with him unconscious, what kind of monster am I? Liz picked up the phone again, and called Isabel. She said she'd be there within minutes, and that she had an idea.   
  
"So, let me get this straight," Tess began, "Isabel is going to come here? You do realize she'll call Michael, and he'll call Maria, Maria'll call Alex...pretty soon everyone will be here, and I don't think--"  
  
Liz interrupted Tess. "Don't think that's what he'd want? Tess, you may have been with him in a past life and everything, been married, but I've loved him for nearly two years, and I know that at a time like this he'd want to be with his friends."  
  
"Whatever you say..." Tess agreed quietly. She had to admit, Liz was right. She hated admitting that, seeing as Liz and her were practically natural enemies, but it was the truth.  
  
Isabel came into the room, Michael, Maria, and Alex following behind her. Tess gave Liz a look saying I told you this'd happen. "Okay, what I'm going to do is dreamwalk."  
  
"How is that going to help the situation?" Tess asked. Michael, Maria, and ALex were busy either crying over Max, checking his breathing, or just standing there confused.   
  
"She'll go into the dream he's having while he's unconscious. He's probably dreaming about what caused him to--collapse..." Liz said. She felt so guilty. She was the one who had made him collapse, she knew it. She had done--  
  
"I'm going in." Isabel sat next to Max on the bed, holding his hand tightly. She began to zone out, her body went limp. For several minutes she sat there, hunched over. At one point she was crying uncontrollably, and from that point on she only had silent tears slipping down her cheeks. After about six minutes, she raised her head. Everyone saw the sadness in her eyes, the faint track of mascara marks on her cheeks. Her eyes were glassy-looking from the tears that had not yet spilled over. She sat there for a few moments silent.  
  
"Well? What did you see? What's wrong with Max?" Maria asked. She loved Max just as much as Isabel, Michael, Alex, Tess, and Liz...only in a friendly way, unlike Tess and Liz.   
  
"Can everyone leave, please? I really think I know how to wake him up, but I need privacy." Everyone cleared out faster than if they were in the school and it had caught on fire. Isabel sat alone on the bed with Max. She started to hum "I Shall Believe", but backwards. She didn't know why she was doing it, but something inside of her told her it might work. Seeing as he had been singing it softly while he was unconscious, she thought maybe it backwards would make him conscious again.   
  
Max's eyelids began to flutter, and Isabel's heart jumped. Was it working?  
  
Nope. All movement in his body stopped, except for the beating of his heart and his breathing.   
  
"Liz?" Isabel called out. Liz entered the room.   
  
"Is he awake?"  
  
Isabel ignored her question. "Liz, you know that old Sheryl Crow song? I Shall Believe?"  
  
A tear slipped down Liz's cheek, "Yeah..."  
  
"Sing it with me."  
  
"O...kay..."  
  
Together the two girls began to sing, "Come to me now...lay your hands over me...even if it's a lie...say it will be alright, and I shall believe..." They grew slightly louder, but remained alltogether quiet. Max began to shift positions, open his eyes.   
  
"Li--Liz?" he said groggily.   
  
Liz smiled. "Yes, Max, it's me! Isabel, why'd he collapse?"  
  
"I think he can answer that question for himself. Max, would you like to tell her?" Isabel said, a smile on her face.   
  
"Liz..."  
  
To Be Continued... 


End file.
